Never Forget
by bacomelon
Summary: Gray never forgot his childhood love, even after thirteen years without seeing her. Will he ever find her again?


Gray was lying on the bed with his right arm over his face, covering his eyes. He was trying to recover from a dream where a very familiar face appeared. The same face that had appeared in absolutely every dream of him in the last thirteen years. A little girl with skin as pale as the snow that fell in the north, azure hair and large, deep midnight blue eyes, able to hold him forever in the simplest and innocent look.

The dark haired man met her shortly after his parents were killed in an attempted assault by a criminal known by the name of Deliora. Gray had to move in with his aunt Ul (and his cousins Ultear and Lyon), and after two months of studying in a place where he knew no one and had no friends, the little girl was transferred to the same school as him. It was Juvia Lockser, who had also lost her family recently. A terrible car accident during a rainstorm made her traumatized.

When he heard the loud thunder outside, automatically the image of the little blue haired girl appeared in his mind. She was always wide-eyed, hugging her legs tightly against her chest and paralyzed during the storms. If someone laid a finger on her, she would start crying and screaming for her parents.

It was exactly this way they spoke for the first time.

 **...**

 _Gray was grounded until after school dismissal because he slept during class and then presented a bad behaving to the teacher. It was the third time in that same week that this happened, and inevitably his aunt received a phone call from the principal, who said she needed to go to school to have a serious talk about her nephew._

 _He was sitting on a bench next to the principal's office door when Ul appeared with a rather unhappy expression._

 _"Again, Gray?" She asked seriously and sighed when the boy just shrugged. "Do you want to wait here or in the car?"_

 _"Whatever."_

 _"Fine. We'll talk when we get home." With that said, she knocked lightly on the door and walked right in, leaving her nephew waiting outside._

 _Gray knew this would be a very long conversation so he didn't think twice and decided to walk around the school and find something to have fun with, which would be very difficult since all the other kids were gone - and he didn't talk to any of them - ; or at least that's what he thought, because right there on the second floor a blue-haired girl was looking through the window into the sky with black clouds._

 _"Please, no..." He heard her whisper as he passed her. Her voice was pleading and she seemed to be frightened._

 _"Um.. Did you talk to me?" Gray looked at her confused._

 _She brought her clenched fists to her chest and began to stumble backward. "No, no, no, no, no..."_

 _"Are you okay?" The dark haired boy approached her and also looked out the window to discover the source of so much despair. All he saw was a heavy rain beginning to fall outside. "What are you seeing? It's just the rain-" When he gently touched her shoulder to try to calm her down, she fell to the floor and hugged her legs as she hyperventilated. It was Gray's turn to start despairing. He grabbed her by the shoulders and tried to figure out what was wrong. "Hey, talk to me. Are you hurt? Are you in pain?"_

 _"Mommy... Daddy..." The little blunette girl started to cry and hugged her legs even more, as if she were feeling a unbearable pain. "PLEASE NO!" She shouted suddenly._

 _Gray looked around, sweeping the place with his eyes looking for a sign of some grownup nearby, but the school was practically empty. When he finally realized they were near the infirmary, he looked at the little girl with determination. "I'll get you some help!" There had to be someone there, right? A nurse. But no, nothing. He felt the despair rising in his heart when he found no one. How could he help that girl alone? When Gray heard her scream again, he ran back and knelt in front of her. He realized that she only screamed when she heard a thunder. "You'll be fine, I promise." He whispered before covering her ears with his bare hands. "Calm down... Nothing is going to happen to you."_

 _The young Fulbuster had no idea how long he had been there, his hands covering the ears of that girl he didn't even know; but he felt he needed to help her. Sometimes when the sound of some thunder grew louder than usual, she would put her hands over his own - so she wouldn't hear the noise - and squeeze her eyes tightly. She stopped screaming after a while, but Gray only withdrew his hands when he was sure there would be no more thunder. Heavy rain was still falling outside though, and the little girl was still crying with fear._

 _"See how I breathe?" Gray took a deep breath and then let the air out slowly through his mouth. "Can you do the same?" He asked and smiled a little when she mimicked him. "With me, now." The two breathed together very slowly, repeating the process until the little blunette calmed down. "Feeling better?" She just stared at the window in fear. "Oh, don't worry. No more thunder."_

 _"But... the rain..." He heard her voice for the first time - that was a good sign._

 _"Are you afraid of rain, too?" Gray asked and sighed as she nodded. "I'll think of something, just... Please don't start crying again. No need to be afraid, I'm here with you." As the words came out of her mouth, the girl's cheeks were slightly pink and he also felt his own face warm. "I-I mean..."_

 _"What's your name?" She asked timidly._

 _"It's G-"_

 _"Gray!" They both heard a woman exclaim and the boy knew exactly who it was. He was so in trouble._

 _"Yeah, that's my name." He spoke to the girl before looking in the direction of his aunt, who had a look of relief and anger on her face. "Hi, aunt Ul."_

 _"I told you to wait for me on the bench or in the car! I went to the car to check if you were there and nothing! How do you disappear like that?!"_

 _"I know, I'm sorry."_

 _"Where have you been ?!" Ul asked irritably._

 _"Here."_

 _Only then Ul noticed the presence of the little girl with blue hair. 'Great, I must have scared the poor thing.' She thought before asking more calmly. "Who's your friend, Gray?"_

 _"She's ..." The black-haired boy wanted to kick himself. He didn't even ask her name! "Actually, I don't know... I just met her."_

 _The little girl blushed when she received glances full of anticipation and curiosity._

 _"Juvia." She whispered._

 _"Are you waiting for someone to pick you up, dear?" Ul asked and saw her looking sadly at her feet._

 _"No... Juvia goes home alone. She's just waiting for the rain to stop."_

 _"We'll take you to your house!" Gray spoke suddenly with a broad smile and Juvia looked at him in surprise. "Can we?" The boy asked his aunt._

 _"Sure." The older woman smiled too. "But first I need to consult her parents, okay? If they don't see any problem, we can go."_

 _"Juvia lives with her great-aunt..." Gray noticed the tone of sadness in her voice._

 _"Do you know the phone number?" Ul asked with her cell phone in hand, and quickly dialed the numbers as the little girl began to speak. "Just a moment, kids." She stepped away from them to talk to Juvia's great-aunt._

 _The dark haired boy looked at Juvia with curiosity._

 _"What happened to your parents?" He asked after a few seconds and saw her widen her eyes and look away. "S-Sorry! You don't have to-"_

 _"They're... gone." Juvia whispered, and it was Gray's turn to look down and feel tears forming in the corner of his eyes._

 _"Mine too..." He whispered back. A few more seconds passed in silence. "If I'm not around and there's more thunder, cover your ears like that." He decided to change the subject. "Remember the breathing?" She nodded, making him smile. "Good."_

 _"Thank you for helping Juvia."_

 _"No problem. I am the great Gray-sama!" Gray spoke convinced and they both laughed softly. He looked closely at Juvia's hair and found that he found the color very beautiful - not that he was going to say it out loud._

 _"Can Juvia e Gray-sama be friends?" She approached her face suddenly and asked with hope in her big blue eyes. Gray immediately blushed at the sudden proximity and turned away, averting his gaze with a scowl. She should not surprise him that way._

 _"Sure..." He mumbled, and the smile she offered was so big that it became contagious._

 **...**

From that day on the two became inseparable friends, or almost inseparable, because as he was a year older than her - Gray was 8 years old, and Juvia was 7 -, they did not study in the same class; but they always had lunch together and played during the break. One knew absolutely everything about the other, and shared every secret. Their friendship was so true that they could always trust each other in any situation. Every time a storm began, Gray ran from where he was and went to Juvia to cover her ears and calm her down; every time he was down or grumpy about his parents, she made him feel better.

For two years, Gray and Juvia felt happy. The kind of happiness they didn't think was possible after the loss of their families. As long as they were together, everything would be all right. But unfortunately, it wasn't so easy.


End file.
